Framingham School Committee approves $133M budget

Jim Haddadin Daily News Staff @JimHaddadin

Tuesday

Apr 3, 2018 at 10:01 PMApr 3, 2018 at 10:01 PM

FRAMINGHAM — The $133 million school budget is now in the hands of Mayor Yvonne Spicer and the City Council following a unanimous vote by the School Committee to support the superintendent’s spending plan.

The committee on Tuesday approved a fiscal 2019 budget that would increase spending 4.4 percent in the next school year. A majority of the increase would go to support higher teacher salaries, while additional money would fund expansions of bilingual education and some other new initiatives.

“I think the gain here is improved outcomes for students and student achievement,” Superintendent Tremblay Robert said, adding, “We are up to the task.”

Framingham’s finance chief asked school officials to limit the increase in the budget to 4.4 percent this year. After presenting a draft to the School Committee last month that exceeded that amount, Tremblay cut $286,729 from the bottom line, bringing it in line with the city’s $133 million target.

In order to trim the budget over the last two weeks, Tremblay said his staff took a “calculated gamble” that teacher turnover will save costs. Based on trends over the last 10 years, Tremblay said it’s expected that some longtime teachers will retire and be replaced by younger teachers at lower salaries, generating some savings.

Salaries make up the lion's share of the increase in this year's budget, which includes an additional $4 million to account for expected salary hikes. The spending plan also anticipates a tuition increase of $275,000 for out-of-district placements for special needs students, and increases the transportation line item by $100,000.

The budget proposes an overall increase in staffing of about 24 full-time positions. It adds the equivalent of two custodians, two administrators, roughly 11 teachers, four secretaries and about 10 additional non-union positions. It also reduces the number of classroom aides and assistants by about six full-time positions.

Another factor driving up the budget is growing enrollment — particularly the increase in the number of English learners. The number of students in the district grew from 8,841 at the start of the current year to 9,074 as of March 1, 2018, according to material included in the budget book — an increase of 233 students. The number of bilingual students in the district is also up by more than 400 since last year.

The budget proposes $835,000 in new bilingual education teachers and support, including money for the launch of a new Portuguese and English bilingual education program at Potter Road School.

The school system will also add one grade level at King Elementary School, which will begin educating grade four students next year. The budget includes $320,000 for necessary staffing changes.

In constructing his first budget, Tremblay used a zero-based budgeting method. Tremblay asked principals to account for every line item in their budget, rather than granting them a percentage increase. So far, members of the School Committee have been impressed with the results, saying budget requests track more closely with actual needs.

In another change, the superintendent shifted decision-making for a range of operational costs to staff in the central office. Previously, principals had more discretion to develop programs and buy instructional materials for their schools, such as science kits, software and technology. However, Tremblay has said the level of autonomy granted to each school allowed disparate programs to spring up across the district, creating inequities between schools.

For the coming year, principals were instead asked to submit their budget requests to the central office, which will make more uniform decisions regarding how to spend the district’s resources.

The superintendent is expected to discuss the school budget with the City Council’s Finance Subcommittee on April 11. The new fiscal year begins in July.

Jim Haddadin can be reached at 617-863-7144 or jhaddadin@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JimHaddadin